The present invention relates to tools for developing applications for different frameworks, and more specifically to techniques that enable a developer to use an integrated development environment to build and deploy portal applications for different frameworks.
Various computing frameworks or platforms have evolved over the years in the computer industry. Examples of such computing frameworks include the .NET computing framework (.NET platform) from Microsoft Corporation, Java-based frameworks such as the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) framework from Sun Microsystems, Inc., and others. Each framework can be considered a group (sometime called a “stack”) of common services that each framework provides to applications that are built with or run on the framework.
The .NET framework is a framework provided by Microsoft for programming support for web services that provide a user the ability to use the Web rather than the user's computer for various services. The .NET framework provides users with a Web-enabled interface for applications and computing devices and makes computing activities increasingly Web browser-oriented. The .NET framework includes servers; building-block services, such as Web-based data storage, and device software. The .NET framework also enables developers to create reusable modules that can be used in the .NET framework. Common Language Runtime (CLR) provides a foundation for building applications and components for the .NET framework.
The J2EE framework is a Java-based application server framework from Sun Microsystems, Inc. for the development of distributed applications. The J2EE framework is designed for simplifying application development in a multi-tiered environment by enabling users to create standardized, reusable modular components. The J2EE framework includes many components of the Java 2 Framework, Standard Edition (J2SE) framework. The J2EE framework consists of a set of services, application programming interfaces (APIs), and protocols that provide the functionality for developing multi-tiered, Web-based applications.
Each framework generally supports its own set of programming languages, design environments, programming conventions, programming methodologies, programming APIs, messaging services, security services, etc. that may be used to build applications for the specific framework. For example, the Java language is used to build applications for the J2EE framework. A Java Development Kit (JDK) is provided for building applications for the J2EE framework. Languages that can be used to build applications for the .NET framework include the C++ programming language, the C# programming language, VISUAL BASIC language, JScript, etc (referred to as the “.NET languages”).
The runtime environment that is needed to support and execute applications written for a particular framework also differs from the runtime environment for other frameworks. For example, a Java stack or Java Virtual Machine (JVM) running on a UNIX machine is generally needed for running applications that are built for a Java-based framework such as the J2EE framework. An Internet Information Services (IIS) Server running on a Microsoft Windows machine and CLR compilers are generally needed for running applications developed for the .NET framework.
Due to the differences in programming languages and runtime environments associated with various disparate frameworks, the design environments that are used for designing applications for the various frameworks are also different. Examples of applications and IDEs that may be used for designing applications for the Java platform include the JDK, Eclipse provided by IBM, and others. A popular IDE that is used for building applications for the .NET framework is Visual Studio .NET IDE from Microsoft Corporation.
Due to the differences in the frameworks, when an application designer desires to design applications for a particular framework (e.g., .NET framework), the designer has to select a particular language that is supported by the particular framework and also select a particular IDE that is configured for building applications for the particular framework. Since each IDE has its own specific user-selectable options (e.g., protocols, commands, APIs, menus, etc.) for designing applications, the designer has to learn the user-selectable options of the selected IDE. Now, if the designer wants to develop an application for another framework (e.g., Java-based framework), the designer has select another language that is supported by the second framework and another IDE that is configured to facilitate development of applications for the second framework.
Accordingly, if a designer wishes to build applications for separate framework, the designer is often forced to learn programming languages for each of the frameworks and also learn to use an IDE for each framework. This process of learning multiple languages and use of multiple IDEs reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the designer in designing applications. As a result, application designers for a particular framework tend not to develop applications for some other framework.
As a specific example, enterprise portal products developed by SAP AG are built based upon a Java framework such as the J2EE framework. Consequently, applications (e.g., SAP iViews) that are developed for a SAP portal are built using Java and using a Java-based IDE such as the JDK or the ECLIPSE development environments. However, this is a major impediment for .NET developers who wish to write application components for SAP portals as the .NET developers are used to building applications using a .NET language and a .NET IDE.
In light of the above, techniques are desired that simplify the process of designing applications for different frameworks.